when he was growing up in World War II-era England

Do a Google search on Steven Adams, Pitt's 7-foot freshman center, and dozens of stories on New Zealand's greatest basketball export appear. Many of them describe him in the same manner. One stated he is a "freak athlete." Another professed he was "a freak of nature."

Adams' father, Sid, heard the same variations of that word when he was growing up in World War II-era England. Only the term "freak" back then had a much different meaning. It was a derogatory term meant to ridicule a person for being different.

"He went through a pretty rough time," Adams said of his father. "That was when they were discriminating against freaks. That's what he called himself. He was really, really tall and they'd tease him. He had it pretty hard."

Sid Adams wasn't long for England. After a career in the navy, he settled in New Zealand, where he had 18 children with five women. Many of Sid's children blended their impressive size and athleticism into sporting success.

Males in the Adams clan average 6 feet 9 and females 6 feet. The tallest of Steven Adams' sisters is Valerie Vili-Adams, a 6-4, 246-pound two-time Olympic gold medalist in the shot put. Valerie, who has the same father as Steven Adams but a different mother, won her second gold medal at the London Olympics this summer.

Two of Adams' brothers -- Warren and Ralph -- played with and against Pitt coach Jamie Dixon when Dixon played professional basketball in New Zealand in the late 1980s. Dixon and others who played with Warren and Ralph said they should have been in the NBA.

Steven Adams, the last of Sid's children, has the potential to become the most famous athlete in the family. He is Dixon's highest-rated recruit and has the potential to be the first player from Pitt in 25 years to go in the top 10 of the NBA draft. One 2013 NBA mock draft has him as the No. 10 prospect. Another has him as the No. 7 prospect.

But Steven Funaki Adams -- his mother is Tongan -- is not your typical fast-tracked super recruit with one foot out the college door to the NBA. He doesn't have any handlers planning his future. He isn't obsessed with the draft websites and what they have to say about him. He is unpretentious and a bit oblivious to the hype that surrounds him.

Simply put, Adams is not your average NCAA basketball player.

It's not an uncommon sight to walk past the rows of coaches offices at the Petersen Events Center and see Adams strumming a country tune on his guitar for Dixon and the assistant coaches. Teammate Talib Zanna described him as a "cool guy who sometimes doesn't even know what's going on."

So just how did this son of a military man, with the height and athletic gifts all aspiring basketball players covet, become a free spirit who, in his words, "doesn't care much"?